Eclipsed
by McMahonHelmsleyEraFan
Summary: Sequel to Duality. As Stephanie tries to heal, her world is shattered and her sanity is threatened yet again. To regain order, will she draw strength from the darker parts of herself...or surrender to it entirely?
1. Eclipsed

We're both broken in our own little ways

We're broken, but we fit together just right

You know I saw the black inside your eyes

I saw they were eclipsed by mine and they looked just right

~ Evans Blue

Stephanie relaxed her forearms on the railing of her balcony. For the moment, she was alone. It was actually kind of strange. Ever since she and Hunter had uncovered the past her mind had locked away, the man refused to leave her side. He wanted to be there for her as much as was humanly possible. It was a combination of leftover guilt over how he'd left her upon learning of Selene's existence as well as his desire to be a supportive husband.

Not that she minded one bit. In the past, it was sometimes a task getting Hunter to be emotionally open with her. Nowadays, he welcomed her to express herself. She didn't have to hold back for fear that he'd shut down on her. She honestly loved the man more than life itself and knew that he felt the same way towards her.

Today was the first day that they'd spent more than a few minutes apart. Hunter had been coming to therapy with her and she'd been going to ankle rehab with him. As of his last session, he was cleared to begin training in the ring.

Feeling the light breeze blow her hair to the side, she sighed blissfully. She recalled the talk she and her husband had regarding their new schedules. Hunter had been so reluctant to add in-ring training because it conflicted with her therapy sessions.

_Hunter shook his head and gave Stephanie a skeptical stare. "I don't know about this."_

_Stephanie shifted on the couch so that she was facing her husband more. She reached across the space between them and took his hands in hers. "Baby, I promise you I'll be fine."_

_Worrying his bottom lip with his teeth, Hunter rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. "How can you promise that? You haven't been to a session alone since…" he trailed off and hesitated over how to verbalize what was on his mind without hurting her. "Since," he tried and failed again, letting out a sigh as he looked down and away from her._

_Stephanie raised one of her hands to his cheek. Ignoring the tickling sensation that his stubble created, she smiled at him gently and asked, "Since?"_

_Blowing out a heavy breath, Hunter grabbed her wrist, holding her hand close against his skin. "Well…you know what we found out."_

_Stephanie would be willing to swear to God that Hunter had as much trouble dealing with what happened to her as she did. She nodded and decided to say it for the both of them – acknowledging the occurrence was part of the road to recovery. "Since we found out I was raped."_

_Hunter visibly winced, letting his eyes slip shut as he leaned his forehead against hers. For the next minute, their noses and lips touched at random intervals, sweetly._

_After a few more moments, Stephanie opened her eyes and pulled back a little bit. She moved her hand to wipe away the couple beads of wetness that had spilled over Hunter's long eyelashes._

_Taking a shaky breath, Hunter tried a small smile. "Hey, I'm supposed to be comforting you, here."_

_Stephanie shrugged. "You've been strong for me for two months. I'm getting better; I can be strong for you, too, now. But we have to try to be normal again…you can't protect me from the world, Hunter."_

"_I can damn well try," he added stubbornly, drawing a smile from his wife. "I just – I can't stand the thought of not being with you and then someone hurts you, baby."_

"_I'll only be at therapy. As soon as you're done with rehab I'll let you watch over me like a hawk all you want."_

"_I plan to hold you to that," he told her with a smirk._

The corners of her mouth turned upwards as she allowed the happy sensation to wash over her. For the most part, everything was going relatively smoothly. Selene didn't make any unexpected appearances. She only came out when asked by the therapist and with Stephanie's permission. It was still a somewhat rare occurrence; the focus of this new therapy was for Stephanie to recover her buried memories and not for Selene to vent. But on some occasions the two goals met up.

She hadn't heard a peep out of Vincent Kennedy McMahon and her mother and brother didn't pressure her for an explanation, really. She had no idea what story her father had given them to justify him giving away his company. Nor did she care. She was done with him the day she walked out of his home office after finding out what he'd allowed to be done to her.

Adjusting her sunglasses a little bit, she tilted her head towards the sky. The Moon was continuing to move in on the sun. There was still enough sunlight to warrant protecting her eyes, though.

It was kind of sad, in a way. The Sun was there, doing what it did – shining, lighting up the world. The Moon had its usual, designated time to reign, of course. Yet the universe saw fit to have the Moon pass between the Earth and the Sun. The universe's alignment had chosen _this _hour for dark to block out and overcome light.

Temporarily.

The Moon would eventually go back to its usual routine.

A familiar set of footsteps soon approached her direction.

"Hey," Stephanie greeted as Hunter came to stand beside her.

"Hey. I missed you. Did you miss me?" He asked, somewhat rhetorically.

"Of course," she confirmed, reaching up to plant a kiss against his cheek.

Hunter grinned at her and asked, "What are you doing out here?"

Instead of responding verbally, Stephanie pointed upwards. At that same moment, the Moon finished obscuring the Sun, bathing the sky with darkness.

"Holy shit," Hunter whispered in amazement. "Kind of scary," he commented, giving an exaggerated shudder.

Stephanie laughed at his dramatic effects. "A little. These things don't last long, though."

"It's interesting, you know. Even though the Moon is blocking the Sun totally, you can still see the Sun's rays poking out from the sides."

Stephanie tilted her head and pushed her sunglasses up and into her hair. "Hmm," she muttered. "I never thought of it that way."

"The Sun's just too big, bright and generally awesome to be blotted out all the way, I guess."

For some reason, his observation made her smile, inside and out. So a total solar eclipse wasn't a sad, pathetic defeat. Rays of light – proof that the Sun would soon shine again were literally all around the Moon. She didn't know what made her think about this with such depth today. She'd damn well seen an eclipse before. But something about this one was different. Special.

Maybe it was because she now knew that she had another person living just below the depths of her mind. The therapist was moving towards integration – towards merging her and Selene as one. One person for one damn body. That's what was _normal_, what nature intended for all of humankind.

But every now and then, horrible things happened to the innocent and surely nature had to adapt to that. So Selene was her adaptation, wasn't she? When Stephanie couldn't deal, Selene did. When Stephanie didn't want to remember, Selene did. When Stephanie couldn't or _wouldn't_ take action, Selene did.

Stephanie was a very loving and affectionate kind of woman. Selene wasn't. It was buried deep within her heart, difficult to pull out and so far was only reserved for Stephanie.

Really, they were two halves that made one whole. Opposites. Where one excelled, the other was lacking. Stephanie's strengths were Selene's weaknesses and vice versa. Each was scarred and bruised in her own way.

In the past, Selene was mentally stronger than Stephanie. She was the dominant personality; meanwhile Stephanie would fall into a void of nothingness. But as Hunter just pointed out, even during a total eclipse, hints of what's beneath – or what should actually be there are still visible. So maybe she hadn't truly been in some bottomless black hole when Selene was taking over. Maybe she was truly there, just beneath the surface…quietly taking a backseat so that she didn't have to acknowledge the actions of her alter. It would certainly explain a few things.

Because sometimes when Stephanie looked in the mirror, she didn't know who was staring back at her. She didn't know whether it was herself, Selene or some strange hybrid of the two.

Worse, is that she didn't know whom she _wanted _it to be.

* * *

DAMN MUSES won't let me finish BL uninterrupted! LOL. I guess this is their way of ensuring I follow through and actually write this, rather than retire after BL and YFM.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this prologue. Forgive the suckiness of the "summary"...I wanted to incorporate the song lyrics from the beginning of this chapter, but also put some of the plot. Let me know if you want me to continue this or not!


	2. Overprotective

Stephanie looked down at Hunter, shaking her head in disapproval. She tried to force her lips into a thin line to add to her concern. However, her husband's silly-looking attempt at an innocent grin was making the corners of her mouth form into a smile instead.

"You're impossible," she commented as she took a seat at the end of the sectional chaise lounge and dragged his newly uninjured foot across her lap.

Hunter laughed and relaxed his back into the cushions. "What'd I do?" He asked. A small hiss accompanied his wince as Stephanie wrapped the ice pack around his ankle.

"Hunter, you know exactly what you did. You went too hard in therapy and in the ring and now your ankle is all swollen again."

"Oh. That."

"I know you're anxious to get totally back to normal physically. Overdoing things won't speed up your recovery; you'll just injure yourself again."

Letting out an audible sigh, Hunter allowed his head to fall back across the top of the comfortable leather. "You're right," he muttered.

"You'll get there, baby. Just be patient," Stephanie laughed. Carefully, she got up and positioned his ankle against the footrest so that the ice could do its job.

Perhaps he should clue her in fully. Yes, he wanted to return to the ring. But more than anything he wanted to feel confident in his ability to protect his wife. Not being able to go full throttle without ending up in pain was a glaring reminder of his physical vulnerability. Having this sensitive ankle was the same as having a bright red sign hanging above him, announcing that he was easy prey. Hell, that _they _were easy prey since he rarely let Stephanie out of his sight.

Call him overprotective if you wanted, he didn't care. Steph had suffered through enough abuse, misuse and pain. He planned to do everything that he could to spare her of experiencing any of those in the future. Her own fucking family had been the ones to cause these things to happen to her. Even relative strangers had taken their shot at harming her. So, paranoid or not, he literally trusted nobody with her. Part of his reluctance to let her to go therapy alone was in the fact that her therapist was a male.

No, the good doctor hadn't behaved, spoken or even looked at her in a way that was shifty…but still. He'd nearly had a fucking panic attack when they'd split up earlier today. He figured that the harder he worked in rehab and training, the quicker they'd end his session due to his progress. Except that…well, he'd set himself back, just a tad bit.

Stephanie was completely breathtaking to him. Not just in looks but in personality as well. She'd been through so much and had every reason to hate the human race entirely. But instead of adopting that mentality, she remained a loving and affectionate person. At least for him. When they were heavily involved in the business and traveling, she didn't become too close to anyone else. When they finally did return to that lifestyle, it would be interesting to see how they'd interact with everyone.

Especially him…given the fact that he'd pack her up and force her to move to some remote island if he thought it'd keep her safe and help her maintain her mental clarity.

Stephanie cut into his train of thought by taking a seat next to him. "How is the ice feeling?" she asked softly.

Hunter lifted his head and turned his gaze towards her. "Cold," he stated with a playful smirk.

Stephanie's lips twitched while she tried to fight the instinctive smile that wanted to form. "Ass," she commented, moving her hand with the intention of backhanding him across the chest. Instead, Hunter grabbed it in mid-strike and brought it to his lips.

Really, she wanted to ask where his mind had taken him for those couple of minutes that he was silently staring off into space. He'd totally zoned out on their conversation, with a pensive look on his face. Probably hadn't even realized he'd been clenching and unclenching his fists and doing other such restless, anxious behaviors while he pondered. If she asked him, he'd tell her what topic had occupied his mind. She had no doubt about that. So, really she should say something here. He'd been so focused on her that he'd probably allowed his own issues to sit and fester. "What were you thinking about before I asked you about the ice?"

"You," he said simply, grazing his lips across her knuckles lazily.

With a fractional widening of her eyes, she asked, "Me? What about me?"

Hunter shuffled about against the leather until he was facing Stephanie better. He poked his tongue out for a moment, wetting his bottom lip. He wanted to be honest, but didn't want to cause her any undue stress. It was his job to worry about her, not the other way around. As soon as he was fully healed, everything would be fine. "Steph, I love you more than anything. You know that, right?"

Automatically she nodded, though her eyebrows drew together because she was otherwise perplexed on where this conversation was headed. She'd done her best to ignore the unspoken distance between them and make excuses for the situation. After all, they'd uprooted themselves from their house in Greenwich to a penthouse in New York. There was stuff to move, unpack and sort out…a new city and living environment to get used to. Though neither of them was participating in the WWF in an active capacity, their schedules were still full. And for the first few weeks after everything unfolded she'd been…less than herself. Try as she did to fight it off, sometimes grief, sadness and fear gripped her by the throat and refused to let her go. Sometimes she completely freaked out without warning.

The nightmares, the flashbacks – both had subsided considerably but they were still there.

But so was Hunter; he kept her tethered to reality, to the present time.

"With everything that's happened it's…I don't know," he waved his hand in a circular motion while he tried to figure out how to word his thoughts. "I guess it's more important to me to make sure you're safe?" He tried.

"Hunter," she started slowly. "You have _literally _always been that way with me."

Because he couldn't help himself, he chuckled a little bit. "Yeah I have but at least we could go to a grocery store or something, separately."

Stephanie shrugged. "Well, you and I had become a bit distant anyway with all the shit going on business wise as well as personally. So you're not gonna hear me complaining that we're spending too much time together."

"That's good…I like spending time with you." Hunter's hand lifted to her face and he rested his palm against her cheek.

Stephanie swallowed hard. Hunter's admission had been nonchalant and slipped right out of him without a second thought. Even when things had been at their best between the two of them, he still repressed his emotions for the most part. He was all about professing his love for her when they were in a world of trouble. But this? It was random, true, sweet and most of all, simple. It honestly warmed her heart.

Hunter interrupted her sappy, blissful thoughts with, "That's not everything, though."

"Tell me the rest."

"Well the whole thing with the ankle? It felt perfectly fine and then today's training and it goes crazy again. It's making me feel like I can't protect you if something happens."

Ah, so there was the root of the problem. Why she didn't see that one coming, she had no idea. Her husband was not only a very proud man, but a very physical one. He took pleasure in busting up other people's bodies – it was why he'd got into wrestling. And why he was known as one of the most brutal wrestlers working today. His matches with Cactus Jack were proof of that.

She knew being injured was driving him stir crazy, but she hadn't realized it was also causing a bit of an insecurity. He seemed fine in the acute and initial recovery stages of the injury…so either she'd been blind to what he'd been going through because of all the problems with Selene or this particular problem was new. And caused by what he now knew about her.

"You're like…twice the size of most average men. Swollen ankle or not, you're still an ass-kicker."

A cheeky little grin spread across Hunter's lips. Okay, yes, he had the inkling that he was overreacting to the ankle situation a little bit. But he couldn't help that he just really, really wanted to keep Stephanie safe. She deserved that because she was an amazing person. And because thus far, no one except for him had ever taken on that task. Instead, the people that she should have been able to trust had intentionally brought harm to her and had been poised to do worse.

And truthfully, he didn't think that her miserable fuck of a father was going to just quietly fade into insignificance. He was plotting something, he just had to be. And Hunter needed to be prepared to help Steph in every way possible when the unveiling of his awful plans happened. He _could _be wrong…and didn't want to freak his wife out for no reason. So he'd continue keeping that suspicion to himself unless things started becoming peculiar.

"Well, my job is done," Stephanie commented jokingly, due to the smile on his face.

How and why exactly she ended up falling for a guy like him, he had no idea. But he was so glad that she had and absolutely would not take his good fortune for granted, ever again. He leaned closer to her and tilted his head slightly, meeting her lips with his.

Stephanie shifted to sitting up on her knees, to make their positioning more comfortable. She ran the tip of her tongue against Hunter's bottom lip slowly, smiling when he obliged her.

Well, he seemed pretty receptive to her, so far. Quite honestly, she wasn't sure if he would be. Though deep down inside she knew what happened to her wasn't her fault, she couldn't help but feel...tainted. Dirty, cheap, damaged - you name it and she'd felt it at some point.

_Pondering _whether or not her husband felt the same way was one thing. _Knowing _that he did was another matter entirely. So she hadn't brought it up, nor had she tried to take things further. Today, though? Today she just couldn't help herself. They were flirting and joking around and that provided her with some sense of normalcy. And what was more normal for her than wanting to make love to Hunter?

With that thought, she broke their kiss and moved so that she was straddling his lap. Hunter looked surprised, but not unwilling to participate. Stephanie placed her hands on either side of his head for balance. Then she leaned down for another kiss, fusing her mouth to his more urgently than before.

His massive arms encircled her waist, drawing her body further into him. Every last one of her nerves was on fire and they hadn't really even done anything yet. But this embrace was so much different than the others they'd had in the past couple of months. It was unrestrained and passionate...and she felt very much like herself again. Just the mere thought of how much she desired to be closer to him was enough to give her the confidence to up the ante.

Stephanie lowered her hands down to Hunter's track pants. Her slender fingers slipped inside, beyond the waistband until she reached the hem of his t-shirt.

Hunter loosened his arms from around her, instead placing his hands on either of her shoulders. With a sigh, he gently pushed her back.

"What?" She asked. Her lips were full and on the verge of pouting. Her eyes had changed from the vivid blue that they had been, to a darker hue.

Hunter cast his gaze down to the floor behind her and allowed his arms to thud against the couch. "I'm…I'm not up for…that. Not right now," he explained weakly. In truth, he'd actually felt her stiffen up as soon as his arms came around her. It took him a few seconds to process what that meant, but now that he knew, he had to stop her.

Stephanie glanced down at the obvious tent the man was still pitching in his track pants. "Up," is exactly what he was at this very moment. Furthermore, he'd literally never turned her down in the heat of the moment before. Not unless they were interrupted or had someplace very important to be. Neither of those was the case right now – they were all alone with nothing to do except for each other. "What's wrong?" She asked, with genuine concern. She moved a hand from his shirt, using it to grab his chin and make him look at her.

Guiltily, from her perspective, Hunter's eyes darted from left to right before finally settling on hers. "My…ankle," he told her. "It's kinda sensitive right now. So I don't think I can…you know, until it feels better."

Stephanie drew her bottom lip in and bit down on it briefly. His ankle, huh? Yeah, it was no doubt bothering him today. But even when it had only been a couple of weeks since his injury, he'd insisted that the rest of him was perfectly fine for such activity. But, of course, that was before he knew the whole truth about her mental state and her past.

His ankle may be swollen, but it was better now than it had been almost two months ago. Which meant that there was another reason that he wouldn't make love to her. Something that was causing him to feel guilty because he wouldn't share it with her. They'd talked about this with the doctor already and he said it was fine, but not to rush into anything. That was well over two weeks ago. So clearly that wasn't the reason that Hunter was holding back despite his physical desire for her.

God, she knew she should have kept her hands and her mouth to herself. Let him make the moves when and if he became comfortable enough to do so. She'd be lying if she said the rejection didn't hurt her feelings. But, Hunter couldn't help how he felt. And he obviously didn't feel the greatest about this decision of his. She just…needed to bail before she started crying or something and made things even worse. The last thing she wanted was to shame him into having pity sex with her. That was possibly more embarrassing than what she was currently experiencing.

Stephanie forced a smile and hoped that it looked at least halfway convincing. "It's fine. I understand you're in pain. I'll…figure out dinner while you rest," she volunteered.

"Thanks, babe."

When she'd removed herself from his lap and disappeared down the hallway, Hunter allowed himself to groan out loud. She seemed to take that pretty well…_too _well, if you asked him. But unfortunately for both of them he just wasn't brave enough to have this conversation with her yet. It had to happen at some point, but it damn well wouldn't be today.

* * *

This didn't turn out quite like I wanted - particularly the last couple of paragraphs, but oh well. LOL. Everything I needed to set up, got set up.

I can tell you that things will be peaceful-ish...meaning mainly issues that Hunter and Stephanie face in their marriage since the revelations of "Duality" before shit hits the fan and more characters get involved. Stay tuned and let me know what you think!


	3. Not Broken, Just Bent

So...this chapter is way longer than I intended. But I basically had to explain what's been going on in Hunter and Stephanie's marriage since "Duality." Kinda needed everyone to understand that their almost-sex in chapter 2 was very different from how Stephanie had been in the couple of months prior. So this chapter addresses that from Hunter's perspective quite a bit, along with throwing in Stephanie's thoughts on her shitty family and her progress in general. Some fluff and squee in here, so I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

The painting of the ocean was directly behind Dr. Raymond Schultz. The colors of the pastels used to create the work of art had been varying shades of blue, green, white, orange and red. It was blended to perfection, yet Stephanie found herself scrutinizing it. She found herself looking for the meaning. Everything that therapists did and decorated their office space with had a purpose. So she pondered what the purpose of this was. A beautiful sunset was on the horizon, casting an orange-like hue onto the water. At the shoreline, the water was peaceful and calm, with only gentle indentations to signify that it was not completely still. It was serene and calm.

Yet, beyond the shoreline, but before the horizon, a tall, angry wave had risen up and began to ride throughout the waters. She supposed it _should _completely kill the relaxing effects of the rest of the painting. But it didn't. If anything, she was drawn to the paradox. More like a puzzle, really.

Stephanie continued to stare at the painting and was only vaguely listening to what her therapist was saying. She'd checked out of this session right around the time he brought up her father. Swallowing hard at the thought, she stared at the painting harder to try to distract herself.

All of a sudden, it appeared as though the water was moving. The waves rapidly closing in and preparing to drown her.

"How do you feel about your family now?" Dr. Schultz's soothing voice asked.

Stephanie blinked once, hard. Her imagination was playing tricks on her. That was all. She was indoors, for God's sake! She cleared her throat and finally averted her gaze from the painting. The doctor's light brown eyes were sympathetic and kind, yet held the hint of vast knowledge, coupled with curiosity. His features were not what she'd call cute…more like chiseled. He had a look that most women would probably find very attractive. The shapes and angles of his face were sharp and very defined. He wasn't a bad looking guy in her opinion…he just…wasn't Hunter. Basically. It didn't matter what guy came wandering about, really – if it wasn't Hunter, there was something wrong with them, physically.

Curiosity dominated the doctor's eyes at the moment, as she'd yet to respond. Stephanie cleared her throat and opened her mouth, preparing to answer. Just as quickly, she closed it and decided to settle for a shrug. Because she didn't know how she felt about them. She purposely tried not to think about them that deeply. She focused on mental and emotional recovery and on her marriage.

"Stephanie?" He prompted.

"I love Hunter more than ever," she said simply.

"Stephanie," the doctor sighed. "I know that; I've seen the two of you together. But what about your-"

She quickly interrupted with, "_He's _the only family that really matters at this point. My relationship with my mom and brother was already strained. Now it's worse because they don't understand why my Da…" she trailed off, realizing what she almost called the man who'd contributed to her existence and then subsequently tried to ruin it. "Vince," she amended quickly. "They don't get why he just gave me the company. They're both jealous, think I'm too young and worry that I'll run amuck like before."

Dr. Schultz tapped his pen against his desk thoughtfully before asking, "Do you think that would change if they knew the real reason why he turned things over to you?"

"I don't know," she admitted quietly. "My family has always been a little…different."

"In regards to this topic, what do you mean by that?"

Uncomfortably, Stephanie shifted on the couch while she tried to make sense of her thoughts. Given their already screwy dynamic, she didn't know what to expect of her mother and brother. For all she knew, her mother may not have been entirely blind to what Vince had done. It was something she'd mulled over ever since she'd learned the truth about her past.

Literally, she had _stabbed _Vince. She'd made him bleed profusely and even a decade later, the scar on his skin was still prominent. Surely, at some point her Mom had to have seen it. What story had Vince given her to excuse the mark? Or had he told her exactly what happened and her mother simply blown it off?

Stephanie didn't know. At this point she wasn't even sure she wanted to. In a short span of time she'd dealt with quite enough. She was just starting to feel sane, stable and in control of herself again. When she had a little more time in and was stronger, maybe she'd go digging for the story. But for now she had other priorities.

"Basically, I don't know if they'll believe me. And even if they do, I'm not sure they'd rally behind me."

Dr. Schultz nodded, raking a hand over his low-cut, light brown hair. "That kind of uncertainty must be off-putting."

"Absolutely. And at this point it doesn't matter what they think about me having control of the company. I don't plan on actively participating until I'm better."

"I can see how running a multi-billion dollar organization that puts on several live shows per week can seem stressful," he joked mildly.

Stephanie shrugged and smirked playfully. "Only a little."

* * *

Letting out a heavy sigh, Hunter threw his gym bag into the living room closest carelessly. He walked through the spacious penthouse until he reached the kitchen. He pulled open the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water and immediately spotted the fruit and vegetable smoothie he'd made this morning. A few ounces were already gone, which meant that Stephanie had almost certainly grabbed some before she headed out today. That conclusion made him smile, seeing as it was his intention to make sure she had something healthy on a daily basis.

Ever since they became an actual couple…which was basically as soon as Stephanie was in control of her own body, he'd wanted to take care of her. Not in a paternalistic kind of way – he just didn't want her to be lacking for anything. Occasionally, he'd royally failed on the emotional side of things, but he'd tried. It was much easier now that he actually understood her, her past and the situation that they were in. Being off the road also helped a great deal. They were certainly closer than ever.

And yet, something was missing. There was an invisible wall between the two of them. An unspoken thing he dreaded to verbalize because that made it too real, much too soon. Honestly, he thought that he'd be able to suppress his draw to her a bit longer and much better than this. Unfortunately, his body had other ideas. Normally, he could make out with Steph for a bit without things going any further and both of them were content.

It was possible that the satisfied feelings had come from knowing that things _could _go farther if they chose. Right now, they just couldn't. Stephanie was getting better, but he absolutely refused to wreck her progress because he couldn't control himself. On a good day, he could wrap his arms around her and she'd settle in immediately. On a not so good day, she may tense up at first or just flat out refuse to embrace him, saying that she needed space.

Given what she'd been through, he completely understood that. And he liked to say he'd done a damn good job of showing his affection without getting very physical with her. Steph seemed to be good with that until two days ago. Without much warning or provocation she'd taken to practically mauling him.

Because he was him and she was _her_, he couldn't help but get lost in the moment. When she flinched against him, he finally realized what was happening and why. It just didn't sit right with him and he concluded that she was forcing herself to try to give what she assumed he wanted from her. What he ultimately wanted, however, was blissfully simple and unselfish: her health and happiness. She'd taken the kiss that he'd initiated as a sign that he wanted more intimacy. Of course he did, eventually. When she was better and not likely to have the encounter set her recovery back.

He wouldn't jeopardize her health to satisfy his desires. If that meant that he had to protect her _from _him for the time being, then that's exactly what he planned to do. Essentially, he'd purposely forced himself to kind of view her as off-limits in these last couple of months. There was no way he would allow himself to screw things up for her or for the future of their marriage.

While he was in the master bedroom picking through his intense thoughts, he stripped down to his boxers so that he could take a shower. As he reached up to pull the band from his hair, a soft hand landed on his arm, followed by an all too familiar voice asking, "Penny for your thoughts?"

He jumped a little and turned around right as his hair cascaded across his broad shoulders. "Jesus Christ, Steph! You trying to scare me to death?" He asked with a playful smirk.

Stephanie shrugged and failed to conceal her amusement. "Thinking is dangerous. Just be pretty," she suggested, tugging on a few blonde strands affectionately.

"Hmm," he murmured as his hazel eyes narrowed in concentration on her blue ones. "But you're a very intelligent woman," he said as if it were a cemented fact. "And smart people get bored, so I have to think of new ways to keep your attention," he explained before giving her an exaggerated pout and puppy dog eyes. "Otherwise you might leave me."

Stephanie laughed out loud and patted the top of his head in faux sympathy. Hunter could never bore her; a fact that he surely knew. And she loved him more than anything and her heart and mind couldn't even fathom the idea of potentially leaving him. That was another fact that he was most likely aware of. As far as relationship stability went, it was safe to say that she was under his lock and key, metaphorically speaking. "I'll consider staying put. If…" she said, trailing off vaguely and arching a finely shaped eyebrow.

Hunter's brown eyes brightened and a huge grin occupied his lips. "Name your terms!"

"A hug and a real kiss," she said simply.

Hunter had no one to blame except for himself for the second provision. Ever since the almost-encounter, his version of kissing had been pressing his lips to her forehead or cheek. Today, she'd still been sleeping when he'd set out for the gym, physical therapy and in-ring training, so she didn't even get that much from him this morning.

Okay, he could do this. He'd done it literally tens of thousands of times, if not more. And clearly each kiss didn't lead to more…but something about her request still made him uneasy. It was like she was his favorite fruit. Prior to the last couple of months, he could taste and nibble, knowing that he could in fact enjoy all of her, without restriction. But now she was forbidden, in a way. If anything, it just made her even more appealing to him.

A peck wouldn't have been much of an issue for him. But she'd been specific with what she wanted. He'd give her that and not much else, so help him. He took a step closer to her and pushed aside a few brown, silky locks that had fallen into her face.

Keeping his hand exactly where it was, Hunter's mouth covered hers. Almost as if they were on autopilot, Stephanie's hands came to rest upon his shoulders. After several seconds of their lips moving together unhurriedly, she tilted her head slightly. She hoped that her invitation to deepen the kiss was as clear as day. She was left somewhat disappointed when Hunter pulled away slowly, but pecked her one final time.

She was torn on whether or not to request more from him. Before she could make a solid decision, Hunter wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "How was your session today?" He asked.

Stephanie shrugged and laid her head against him, enjoying the feel of his warm skin. "More tiny slivers of progress as usual."

Hunter chuckled and threaded a hand through her hair. What she said was certainly positive, but her tone and demeanor conveyed that she wasn't exactly pleased. It was intriguing. "That's good, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she said softly. "I just wish this whole thing was more…I don't know. Solid."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when a bone is broken you know how to heal it and a range of how long that will take. There's a program of rehab that you follow and things along the way to let you know how you're doing. But this isn't like that." She pulled away so that she could look into his eyes. She never failed to find a curious mixture of strength, reassurance and love waiting for her in the hazel depths. "There's no scale or measuring. I'll never know if I'm gonna be fixed," she paused meaningfully and sighed, obviously struggling with her emotions on this subject. "I...I just don't want to be broken forever."

The lump that seemed to have suddenly lodged itself in his throat was particularly annoying. He swallowed hard and gently dropped a kiss against his wife's forehead. "It wasn't too long ago that you couldn't go more than an hour without having a flashback or a day without a nightmare. Going to therapy without me was completely out of the question because of anxiety attacks and all. You've made so much progress with all of that and much more. You're far from broken…maybe a little bent, but look at all the shit you've been through. You're amazing and I'm so proud of you, Steph."

For the first time today, she smiled genuinely. "I'm just trying to keep up with _you_. I don't know if I could get through this if I didn't have you."

"You won't have to know," he interjected quickly.

Hunter watched on in silence as Stephanie nodded, signifying that she believed he wouldn't go running for the hills. It was something that he made sure to reiterate to her at every available opportunity. He'd made a terrible, selfish decision when he first learned of Selene's existence. He knew exactly what had gone on during his four day absence since he sat in on the therapy sessions. So he'd heard directly from Stephanie and Selene of what occurred…quite frankly it was a fucking miracle that Steph hadn't ended up hospitalized or worse during her self-neglect. He would have never forgiven himself if something awful happened to her while he contemplated over whether or not to resume their relationship.

Such thoughts didn't even occur to him now. He needed her just as much as she needed him. He'd been kidding himself to even attempt to separate his life from hers. Despite the challenges that their marriage had overcome, was currently battling and would no doubt have in the future, he was happy with Stephanie. He didn't need to lose her again to know that it would make his world unbearably miserable.

While maintaining their eye contact, Stephanie trailed her fingertips across his neck and shoulders, slowly moving downwards. She stopped when she reached his chest, spreading her hands over the smooth, tanned skin.

God, that felt good. The action may have seemed insignificant to most people, but it had literally been two months since he had the simple pleasure of having his wife's hands on his chest. Something about it had never failed to drive him completely crazy for her.

And well, they kept a certain distance recently. They slept in the same bed, but farther apart than was usual. Sometimes they'd face each other and hold hands. Sometimes he could drape an arm over her midsection as long as the lower half of his body wasn't pressed against her. They were all adjustments that he'd readily made for her comfort. But he hadn't realized how much he cherished those little ways of showing affection until he needed – and was sometimes not given – a voiced invitation to do so.

Rising up on her tiptoes, Stephanie's face inched closer to Hunter's. She pressed a kiss to the right side of his jaw. The prickly sensation of his beard sent a familiar tingle through her system, despite the fact that it tickled. She dragged her lips along his jawline, paying the other side equal attention. Another feather light kiss landed on his chin before she finally touched her lips to his again.

It started out slowly, maybe even timidly. Almost like a couple of kids sharing their first kiss together. With neither one of them knowing what was wanted, expected or acceptable, yet both so desperately wanting to find out.

Before they knew it, their tongues wound together, seemingly endlessly. Hunter placed his hands on her hips, bringing her closer to him.

He immediately felt her tense up in response, though she didn't pull away from him. But still…the fact that her gut reaction was to panic showed that she still wasn't ready. This also confirmed his suspicion that she was trying to force herself into resuming the physical side of their relationship. He wasn't allowing her to do that. He took his hands and placed them over hers instead.

Intertwining their fingers, he pulled her hands away from his horribly weak spot, and broke the kiss. Stephanie furrowed her brow as he brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed them before backing away from her.

"You ah, caught me just as I was about to get in the shower," he explained as he walked backwards towards the bathroom. "Been a long, physical day. So I'm uh, gonna do that."

"Oh," Stephanie said softly, glancing down at the ground for a moment. "Okay…" she said with evident uncertainty.

Hunter chewed his lip and tried not to feel like a bastard for putting that confused, disappointed look on her face. But it was for the best. Talking to her about it wouldn't do much good. The woman was stubborn as all hell and would likely say just about anything to try to convince him that she was ready for more intimacy. She could say whatever she wanted…but her body and instincts would ultimately betray her.

"I'm taking you out on a dinner date tonight," he announced abruptly. There. That should help; they couldn't possibly end up in one of these situations when they were out in public sharing a meal. They could just have some fun and be lighthearted, maybe.

Her blue eyes brightened at Hunter's idea. "Okay, hurry up then. I'm starving!"

Hunter shook his head and laughed at her adorable enthusiasm as he closed the door over. Problem solved, for now.

* * *

Yes, I did channel Pink's "Just Give Me A Reason" for the title. So what! LOL


	4. Caveman

What has happened in this chapter near the end went something like this:

Self: Wouldn't it be kinda sweet if Steph was trying to get physical so they can have adorbs anniversary sex?

Me: Wait...wasn't the middle of Duality taking place in September?

Self: whups. Fucking shit. This is what happens when you didn't intend to write a sequel.

Me: _ and Eclipsed doesn't start til a couple months after the reveal...

Self: meaning we passed the anniversary.

Me: fuck

Self and me: *Collaborate to fix this mess*

~ Yeah so guess what I'm saying here is enjoy the funny, squee, fluff, intense and more squee-fluff and let me know what you think! lol

* * *

In Stephanie's left hand was a bag of yellow-green apples with red highlights. In her right hand was…well…what appeared to be another bag of the exact same thing. Hunter squinted, glancing between both bags and found no discernible dissimilarities. With a perplexed frown, he finally shrugged.

"I don't see the difference, Steph."

Wiggling her left hand, she clarified for him. "These are Fujis."

"Uh huh," was Hunter's response. "And those?" He asked, pointing at the other bag.

"Gala apples."

"The fuck?" He muttered low enough so that no one else in the store heard him. At Stephanie's amused cackle, his frown deepened. "These apples look _exactly _the same!" He exclaimed in his defense.

Stephanie held up the Gala apples and mildly corrected her handsome, but entirely baffled husband. "Gala apples don't have any green in them. They're just red and yellow and kinda have a heart shape to them."

Hunter tilted his head, trying to pick up on the details. He quickly gave up that task on account of the fact that he just didn't care. The apples looked identical, no matter what his wife said. Besides, there were more important matters to help distinguish which of these two bags were coming home with them. "Do they taste different?"

"Not really; they're both kinda sweet."

"Oh God," Hunter sighed. "Just...I don't know…pick one. Do eenie meenie miney mo."

The adorable pout that often forced him to reconsider even the soundest of decisions that he'd made, was instantly in full effect. "But I want your input."

"Honey," he said very gently. He didn't want to hurt her feelings…he just wanted to be honest here. "The apples look the same to me. You say they basically taste the same. I don't know anything about either one beyond that so I shouldn't be the one deciding."

At his statement, she brightened and decided to give him more information. "Fuji's store well. Even if we don't eat an apple a day, they'll still be good for quite some time."

He wasn't getting out of this. He could see that now and may as well just give up while he was ahead. Apples were such a trivial thing to be having a full-out information session over. Especially when there were ridiculously huge things happening in their lives. This was a sign that Steph just wanted a distraction from all of that…or a sign that he _really _needed to get her out of the house more. To someplace other than her therapy, his rehab, the grocery store, the occasional dinner or other random errands they had.

Hell, maybe he should do both. Distract her as well as take her out for fun more often. "And how do…ah, the Gala's hold up?" He asked. God help him but he actually really did want to know the answer now.

"A few weeks, tops."

As in, between the two of them, neither variety of apple was in danger of going rotten. But pointing that out would land them back at square one, so he went with the most logical choice. "Let's get the Fiji apples then."

Stephanie chucked the other bag back where she'd picked it up from and laughed a little bit. "Fiji is an island, not an apple," she teased, tapping him on the nose.

"You know what?" He asked, poking her in the side. "Fujitsu, Funaki, Frankenstein, what the hell ever it's called, just get it, woman."

Stephanie dropped the bag of apples into their cart, walking alongside Hunter as he pushed it farther into the produce section. She smirked up at him playfully and commented, "Calling me 'woman' is so caveman-like; I just want you to know that."

"I like that. Cave…couples," he continued awkwardly, unsure of his wording, "stayed together for the long haul."

Looping an arm through Hunter's, she countered with, "No need to go prehistoric and beat me over the head with a club, dragging me to your lair and whatnot. I was already yours forever, voluntarily."

A wide grin spread across his features and he couldn't stop staring at her, despite being in the middle of a moderately busy store. And continuing to walk forward while he did so. Her statement had flowed right out of her so naturally that she wasn't paying his reaction any attention at all. To her, maybe saying such a thing wasn't a huge deal. But to him, it meant everything. _She _meant everything.

And that was the point of love and marriage, wasn't it? Committing wholly to one person, with the promise of them doing the same. Maybe it took him a bit of trial and error, but he finally got it right. He hadn't been looking for a relationship – he knew himself well enough to realize that he couldn't give one-hundred percent of himself to any woman while he was still so heavily involved with wrestling. His career had been his top priority and any woman who didn't understand that, he'd easily shown them the door.

Hunter hadn't gone searching for Stephanie. Nor had Stephanie been searching for him. But once he had her, he did what seemed necessary to keep her – half of which resulted in him almost losing her more than a time or two. Because he still didn't _get it_. If he were to be honest, he didn't truly understand the intense, all-encompassing feeling of being in love with someone until he'd walked out on her. Those few days he'd been in utter misery, obsessing over what Stephanie must think of him and worrying for her general well-being.

He'd deduced that whatever had caused Selene was likely really bad. But instead of running away from the upcoming challenge of helping her through it, he stepped up. Long before he'd gone back to the hotel to beg for another chance, he'd vowed that he would do and be whatever she needed. And for reasons he still didn't comprehend, she'd believed him and given him that opportunity.

Hell, he wasn't entirely sure how a person as good as Stephanie even fell in love with him in the first place. To be frank, all she'd known of him was that he was a backstabbing asshole. But somehow she'd seen through his in-ring behavior, deep down to the fact that he was capable of much more. If he knew exactly where to direct the gratitude– be it the universe, fate or God – he would express his thanks every single time he woke up to this breathtaking woman.

A sharp nudge to his rib made him let out a surprised, slight yelp. "Hey!"

With a shrug and a laugh, Stephanie explained, "Well it was either that or let you crash into what's about to be the meat section."

Hunter puffed his cheeks out, hoping that it somehow drew her attention away from the fact that he was actually blushing. He hadn't done that in who knows how long. But being so caught up in thoughts of his wife that he nearly knocked over stacks of meat was kind of embarrassing, he had to admit.

"You kinda zoned out on me for a minute there," she observed out loud. Actually, he'd been doing that quite a bit lately now that she thought about it.

"Heh, sorry," he apologized lightheartedly. "This tends to happen when I think about you."

With the thoughts of making a supremely delicious lettuce wrap burger on her mind, Stephanie began going through the selection of ground beef, looking for the freshest pick. "What about me?" She asked.

"The usual," he said casually, walking a little bit further down so that he could mull over the poultry offerings. "That you've got a wonderful personality, look like a god…and wondering how the hell you fell for me." Hunter glanced over at Stephanie and sent her a small smile as he shrugged. "That sort of thing."

Stephanie tossed a package of ground beef into their cart. She turned to walk towards her husband, but changed her mind just as quickly. Who was she kidding here? Hunter had a massive appetite. If they weren't in the industry that they were, he probably would have eaten them out of their home by now. Provided he hadn't starved to death, that is. She grabbed another package of meat, tossing it into their cart before heading over to him. "If you saw yourself the way that I do, you wouldn't wonder."

Hunter cracked a sarcastic smile, despite being genuinely touched by her words. "Steph, I'm an asshole. You and I both know that."

It was useless to try not to laugh. He was as blunt as he was amusing. Once she'd stopped giggling, she reached out and grabbed one of his hands. "Super nice guys get eaten alive in the wrestling industry. I never assumed that how you were at work was exactly the same as in regular life. It's not the same; it's a totally different environment. Plus, you're not in love with any of the people you face. Not to mention that they're all guys."

"That's a good point."

"You treat me well and that's really all that matters. There's nothing else I could ask for in a husband."

Acting purely off of natural instinct, Hunter leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. A short second later he realized what he was doing and quickly pulled away. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to -"

"Hunter, what -"

"I shouldn't have - I should have asked first, went for it slower. Or something. Fuck," he said, letting out a frustrated breath.

Genuinely flabbergasted, she remained silent during his rant. Unless she'd misinterpreted things, he seemed to be freaking out that'd he'd kissed her. She wasn't really sure why; it's not like she'd complained about it. On the contrary, had he not pulled away as if her lips were on fire, she'd have kissed him back.

Once he was done rambling, she opened her mouth to speak but he beat her to the punch.

"We got everything on the list; let's pay for this stuff and get going."

That was probably for the best. Already, they'd discussed things that were rather personal, in a public place. To be fair, nobody was paying them any attention anyway. So it wasn't like they'd aired their dirty laundry or anything. But this? This definitely warranted a completely private discussion. "I'm gonna look around a bit."

"Want me to come with you?"

Slowly, she shook her head in the negative. "No…just call me when you're next in line and I'll come over."

A pained, concerned look dominated his features at the moment. "Are you sure?"

From her perspective, he didn't seem at all convinced that she'd be perfectly fine for the five to ten minutes she'd be perusing the store. "I'm sure. You go ahead. Really."

Stephanie watched as Hunter reluctantly left her and started making his way to the front of the store. She walked off towards what she'd labeled as the "snack aisle," considering her options as her long legs took her there. She was sort of stuck between baking a cake, cookies or brownies…or going the lazy route and just buying it already fully made. Her blue eyes scanned between the various, sweet items multiple times and she still couldn't make a decision.

There was also her husband to consider. She certainly didn't want to eat _all _of whatever it is she picked. And Hunter would be less likely to eat cake that she'd totally drown in frosting just because she could.

Behind her, a throat cleared loudly. "Hey," a deep, male voice greeted.

Somewhat taken aback, she spun around on her heels to see who was dangerously close to invading her personal space. The guy was tall and muscular, like Hunter…but maybe just a little taller. His hair was short and brown; his eyes were a piercing blue. His beard was somehow scruffy, yet seemingly well-maintained. He bared his teeth in a smile…and quite frankly she felt just a little bit creeped out despite the fact that there was not one evident physical flaw.

"Um…hi," she finally replied, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"I'm Randy. It's _very _nice to meet you."

Stephanie was about to respond, with a fake name, but before she could speak, Randy continued on.

"Listen I'll cut to the chase here. I find you extremely hot and I think we should get to know each other."

Nervously, she chuckled. "I'm married," she told him proudly, even holding her left hand up for emphasis.

Randy held up his hands in his defense. "Hey we just met; I'm not trying to ruin any marriages. I just wanna talk for a bit. Be friends. Your husband doesn't let you have friends?"

Given everything that had happened in their year-long marriage? No, he probably wouldn't. Certainly not with some strange new guy that began by openly hitting on her. Hell, to be quite honest even _she _wasn't interested in making any new friends. Certainly not of the male variety. Even without the issues of her past, it would still potentially cause issues with Hunter. Stephanie shrugged, "Nope."

"Oh come on! I don't see any husbands around here. So why don't you and I just-" Randy trailed off and closed his hand around her wrist. "You know, get out of here for a bit?"

"Let go of me!" She ordered in practically a hiss. When he ignored her by trying to pull her away, a wave of panic set in and she got increasingly louder. "Get off me! HELP! Somebody HELP!" She yelled, trying to wrench her arm away.

Randy's eyes widened in shock. "What the hell's wrong with you? Shut up!" He told her quickly, still struggling with the brunette.

Hunter stepped forward in line and was about to pull his cell phone from his back pocket. But he heard his wife's voice and it sounded like she was in trouble. He abandoned his cart and all the shit in it, making his way around the people in line behind him. He took off in a sprint towards the area of the commotion. He rounded the corner of the aisle just in time to see Stephanie escape the grip of some guy, right before she hauled off and slapped the hell out of him. Hunter reached them with just enough time to grab the other man's arm, as he'd drawn it back in preparation to do something that would have ultimately cost him his life.

The guy – quite near to Hunter's size, actually – turned around, nostrils flared. And was met with a fist landing against his mouth, knocking him back into the aisle, where numerous products tumbled to the ground from the impact. "If you so much as think about touching her again," he warned, pointing in Stephanie's direction, "I promise you I'll kick the living shit out of you."

"Believe me I don't wanna touch that crazy bitch again!" The stranger told him hatefully, wiping the blood away from his lip as he lay slumped against the products.

Hunter took a step closer, drawing his fist back so that he could hit the asshole again, for his undue insult.

"Hey!" Another voice cried in distress. "You can't just hit people! I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"

Hunter turned his head to find a small crowd of people, along with what he assumed was the store manager, gawking at him. He pointed down at the other man. "This asshole was grabbing my wife's arm, she slapped him and he was about to hit her. If anyone should be kicked out, it's him!"

"Ma'am is this true?" The manager, a short, stocky, currently pasty looking man, asked of Stephanie.

For the first time since decking the fucker who had the nerve to even consider harming her, Hunter's brown eyes tracked over to Stephanie. Her arms were protectively wrapped around her midsection, her eyes were glossy and quite frankly, she looked just as terrified as her screams had been. Still, she weakly nodded in the affirmative at the manager's question.

The manager huffed out a breath and placed his hands on his hips as if Stephanie's response had flipped his entire world upside down or something. "Well then. This changes things!"

Screw the manager, the crowd and the jerk that still hadn't managed to get off of the floor. He needed to get Steph out of here before she totally lost it. He reached in his front pocket, pulling out his debit card. "Look, just charge our stuff to this so we can go. All right? I was at register 4."

The manager took the card, but directed his attention back to the shaken young woman. "We really should make an incident report for our files here. And if you'd like to press charges…"

Stephanie shook her head and then directed her gaze to the floor. "I just wanna go home," she said softly.

* * *

Hunter put the last of the groceries away, closing the pantry with a heavy sigh. He glanced down at his watch, realizing that it had already been ten minutes since Stephanie shut herself off from him in the bathroom. She'd been largely stoic ever since that jerk in the store. She'd stood next to him in line as he finished paying, saying absolutely nothing. Kept her arms wrapped around herself as they walked to the car. Folded her hands in her lap while they were driving home.

Gone straight for the fucking bathroom the second they entered their apartment, while he started putting things away to give her some time and space.

Well, they'd tried it her way and no progress was being made here, so now it was time for something different. He couldn't just sit here and do absolutely nothing while she suffered emotionally. Honestly, he felt like his existence was entirely useless if he couldn't help or comfort the one person on this planet that meant the world to him. He made his way to the bathroom door and decided to be polite by knocking first.

Sniffles and muted sobbing answered his unspoken request. Finally, she muttered out a, "Just leave me alone."

Hunter sighed and rested his palm against the door. "Tried that. It isn't working as far as making you feel better."

"Nothing's gonna work, Hunter! Don't you get that?"

Attitude. That was good. Angry Stephanie was better than Despondent Stephanie. The former, he would eventually be able to talk down, to get to the root of the problem. "How do you know? You won't even let me try."

"Because it's a waste of time!"

"It's never a waste of time when I'm with you, regardless of the circumstances. Open the door, Steph. Please?"

Though Hunter couldn't see it, Stephanie's eyes welled with tears as she shook her head again. Drawing her knees impossibly closer to her chest, she said softly, "Go away."

"Stephanie, I'm not gonna just stand around idly twiddling my thumbs while you're hurting. It'd be a shame if you make me mess up our new place so soon…but if you don't open this door I'll break it."

Leaning against the doorframe, Hunter listened as she shuffled about in the bathroom. A few seconds later, the door opened and there she was. His brown eyes were soft with concern as he looked her over. Her eyes were tinged pink, watery and puffy. Her face was flushed. Her hair was slightly disheveled because she'd likely raked her hands through it haphazardly. But he still gave her a small smile. "Hi."

"You really are a caveman sometimes. You were gonna kick the door in and it wasn't even locked," she said seriously, but he detected the faintest of smiles on her lips.

"Having you be upset, hurt or both makes me irrational," he reasoned with a shrug. "You gonna come out of there and talk to me now? Maybe tell me what happened earlier?"

Nodding her head slightly, she took his outstretched hand and followed him into their master bedroom. She took a seat on the bed, while Hunter chose to sit on his knees, leaning his forearms against the bed, a comfortable distance away from her. But he continued to hold on to her hand. "At the store…I was looking for something to satisfy my sweet tooth. And all of a sudden this guy's behind me, flirting and looking at me weird. I told him I was married and he tried to get me to leave with him. When I refused, he grabbed my arm. I struggled with him a bit but managed to slap him and then you showed up."

The look in his eyes told her that he knew there was more to her behavior than that. Hell, people in the WWF had done far worse to her and it hadn't elicited this kind of reaction.

Stephanie sighed. "I…when he grabbed my arm it…triggered something. A flashback. I was fourteen and terrified again…and when I slapped him and he raised his hand to hit me I saw someone else. I saw the investor."

Gently, Hunter used his thumb to rub the back of her hand. "Steph, all people in existence have an experience that momentarily knocks them back in time. After everything that's happened to you, of course some stranger pawing at you is gonna do that. Don't beat yourself up for it."

"But I completely freaked out and caused a huge scene. It just makes me look and feel crazy, like he said."

"Okay," Hunter said, rising up from the floor, only to sit next to her on the bed. "It doesn't matter what the hell that guy said. You're not crazy just because you refuse to be dragged off against your will to god knows where by him. If anybody's crazy, it's him. And you're damn right you freaked out and caused a huge scene – as you _should _have. Steph, any sane woman being harassed and physically restrained by a guy would call attention to it so that someone could help her or alert someone who could. You absolutely did the proper thing and shouldn't let your past tell you that you overreacted."

"Deep down I know that. I just – when the memories butt in, it makes me wonder. Eventually all the uncertainty and pain just overwhelms me…"

"That's normal. But that's also what I'm here for. You can come to me about anything, Stephanie."

Well, she was aware of that, too. The truth of the matter was that she didn't want to lean on him too much. He had his own stuff to worry about. A successful marriage consisted of two, whole individuals each bringing something to the table. They should be supporting and helping each other. But in the last couple of months it was largely Hunter pulling around both his weight and hers. It wasn't fair and she needed to learn to be more independent. She'd been doing perfectly fine with that for a few days…and then today happened and blew all of her progress to shit. "I don't want to put too much on you, Hunter."

"You're not," he instantly disagreed. "I find it more draining when you won't let me in, actually."

"How?"

"It's not just that I 'want' to help. I have an actual need to try to help…you're the most important thing in my life. I feel useless when you're just crying your eyes out, determined to go it alone. Like, what good am I as a husband if you'd prefer that?"

"I didn't realize…I. Well, I'm sorry. But it's not _you _though. You're far from useless…I'm just not used to constantly feeling so fragile. Everyday it's like I'm a piece of glass – sometimes I make it through without getting shattered or cracked and sometimes I don't. But all day long I'm worrying about whether or not I'll make it to the next day being undamaged. I guess I just don't want you to see it, when I do fall apart. I want you to see me as strong…an equal partner, you know."

"I'm not lying or just trying to make you feel better when I tell you you're the strongest person I've ever known. You seem to think that you're dragging me down, holding me back, ruining my life or something…but you couldn't possibly be more wrong. Regardless of our complications, you've given me more than anyone or anything else ever has."

Stephanie gestured between the two of them. "So you'd do this – us – all over again? Even with the issues?"

"If someone came to me and told me that – issues aside, I would be happier than I'd ever been? Yes I would," he answered honestly. Stephanie lowered her head a little bit, so he reached out and lifted her chin to make her look at him. "Is that what's bothering you? The way we ended up together?"

"Yes. Well, no. Not exactly. I don't know," she sighed. "Just with the way everything has been…and now all the therapy and freak outs. Your ankle getting broken, us having to move. All the bad stuff…then there's the fact that you really didn't sign on for any of this. Not really. It was supposed to be strictly business and I'm not even the one who made the deal with you. I just think that sometimes the trouble isn't worth it. For you, I mean. And maybe during those times you'd consider annulling our marriage…because technically you didn't really marry me."

Hunter remained silent for a moment, simply shaking his head. He was honestly shocked. Other than the brief separation, he'd never said or done anything to indicate that he'd take it all back if he could. "Steph, what brought these thoughts on?"

Stephanie shrugged. "We passed the one year mark maybe a month after finding out about Vince, the investor and everything. I was still too messed up to really celebrate or even show my appreciation for you trying to make the day so special…and I just keep thinking...feeling guilty because you deserve so much better."

"Steph…if we're going to go that route, our anniversary is on Christmas. That's when you gave Selene the boot and started being my wife. I tried to celebrate in November, yeah, because that's when the papers say we got married. The Christmas one is more meaningful though. At least to me it is."

With a curious tilt of her head, she considered. She honestly never thought of it that way. But it made perfect sense.

"When we were separated for those few days, I realized that it was you and not me, who got duped. I'm still not really sure…maybe it's both of us. But I don't regret any of it, Stephanie. I'd like to think that you were meant for me and that even if Selene hadn't accidentally brought us together, we'd have found our way to each other at some point. But that's not a guarantee and if offered the chance, I wouldn't undo our marriage and hope we ended up together by more conventional means."

"I love you so much," she said simply.

"Even though I'm kind of a caveman?"

Stephanie grinned at him. "Yes. On you it's funny and charming."

"I meant everything I said, though…Christmas means more and I think we should celebrate then."

Christmas wasn't too far off...just about a week away, but it did give her a little time to throw something anniversary-like together for them. "I agree with that."

"But I want you to know that you're worth all of this…and if you still feel like maybe I wouldn't do it all over again, I literally will. I'll marry you again." Hunter watched as her blue eyes widened to the size of saucers almost. Her lips parted but she said nothing, she was so stunned. "I love you and if that's what it takes to prove it, that's what we're doing."

* * *

THIS CHAPTER WAS A REQUEST OF NICOL, for her birthday! I am super ridiculously late, heh. But happy birthday!


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